Wolf's Woods
by mastercas
Summary: San's forest burns to dust and she makes a life in a new forest, where modern day humans live. A bit of a modern twist. Rated M for a vague reference to sexual assault/rape and references violence (hunting). [Complete]
1. San

The delicious scent of meat wafted through her nose as she ran home, her fur blocking out the chill of the August air. San could feel her mouth salivating as the smell reached her scent glands, making her think of hunts, kills, and delicious savory meals. The succulent smell mixed with the stench of smoke, of fire. Humans. What vile creatures they were. Then again, they knew how to make meat taste good.  
She came upon a human and his pup, roasting some sort of meat over the fire they'd conjured. Built, she corrected herself.

These creatures were not magical, only somewhat practical. And dull. And deceitful. And disgusting. San's throat reverberated with a nearly silent growl. The vile things destroyed everything they touched, defiled it and changed it into unnatural trash. Even fire, the life they created from nothing, destroyed everything. It ate and consumed wood ravenously, and died without it.

A wave of scent blinked her into awareness. She crouched behind a fern and waited for the opportune moment to snatch some of their meal. She was not a heartless wolf, so she'd only take a small bit in consideration for the pup. Besides, she thought, they are keeping the fire under control, and are respecting my home.

Crouching there in the firelight, she hooded her eyes and waited, silent. San's breathing slowed, and she remained half-aware of what she saw as she remembered her old home.

_The forest was enormous. Trees wider than six wolflengths, they reached for the sky. Her family, her mother, the spirits of the forest. Demons, gods, curses, life, and death. _

A fire had taken her forest, her family. Everything perished. She alone escaped, and made a life here. She had found a thick forest with creeks running through it. Humans occasionally came through here, usually in packs of three or four, and sometimes with pups. Bears were about, however, so the humans were always cautious. They could kill a grizzly bear with a loud bang and the scent of something foul. She didn't understand their weapons, but all she needed to know was that even though they had no fang or claw, they were deadly.

A loud noise, and a sharp pain on her nose made her eyes water. San started, running towards the man and snatching the stick with the meat on it in her jaws. The man was yelling, garbled grunts and noises followed her as she sprinted through her woods. She heard the pup crying and snarled to herself. She hadn't even hurt the man, nor the runt. Angry at herself, San ran fast and hard for a short time before reaching her home.

A rock outcrop, hidden behind some ferns, lay here. Bears couldn't fit within the gap, and she never had problems with mountain cats after she asserted her place. Yet San entered cautiously, sniffing around the delicious tang of meat in her jaws. A small prize for such a large wolf, but the small cylinder of meat would satiate her hunger for now. She was thoroughly tired and collapsed on the stone floor, asleep at once.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	2. Dreams and The Hunt

San shivered in her sleep, though the air in her crevice was warm, heated by her own body. She was far too deeply asleep to take any heed of that, however. Her dreams this night were vivid, and she had to check herself to be sure she was actually asleep.

_There was a small house, with two stories. It was yellow and worn, the white underlayer showed through the thin layer of yellow paint on the siding. A chicken coop sat in the back of the house, and opposite the coop there was a small market. The house was much larger than the market somehow, but this was a dream and she was not bothered in the least by this apparent fact. A single train track ran both in front and behind the house. Though it existed in two places, it was the same bit of track. This was possible here, and it seemed logical, as if there was no other way it would exist. _

_Sometimes there were two people, sometimes three existed. One man and his daughter were always there. His daughter, eight years old, wore a yellow dress. The dress was adorned with a pastel green sash and small white polka-dots. She and the dress were of the same make, they were always together. Occasionally her friend existed, either a small boy or girl, and sometimes her mother existed, a sweet woman always in an apron, always baking, and always very pregnant. The little girl flew a kite with her friend, explored a cave that in the blink of an eye was there and gone again. She ran to her father, yelling in delight, round the corner of the house. _

"_Daddy!" She yelled in glee._

_A train thundered past, inches from the house._

_The father clutched his daughter tightly, terrified. _

_Perfection was broken._

San woke with a start. Her eyes saw nothing but grey and stars for a few moments before blood reached her head and she realized she was already on her paws and backed up against the far wall of the cave. Her teeth were bared, her legs prepared to bolt from an unseen danger.

As soon as she realized she was safe from the sickening noise and smell of the train, that it was all in her dreams, she calmed. A deep breath filled her lungs, her diaphragm pulling in the air and her stomach and chest expanding in order to compensate for the now occupied space. Mentally shaking herself, she stretched a cat's stretch, extending her front paws and feeling the muscles of her shoulders silently groan in the pleasure of the action. After a night on that stiff stone floor, stretching felt _great._

San shook her entire body, as if shaking off a particularly heavy coat of water. Her stomach growled in protest of its emptiness, and, awake now, she lightly trotted out of her den.

The sun, previously unseen due to the rock, greeted her with a warm smile. Wind ruffled her pelt, reaching her skin and making her shiver. She picked up the pace, not stopping to enjoy the lovely warmth that the sun offered, however meager it may have been. The noises of the forest comforted her. Birds singing and chirping, squirrels chattering irritably, the trees groaning and shifting beneath the weight of the sky and the strength of the wind. A grin crossed her face, flashing her teeth, and the chattering of squirrels in her immediate vicinity stopped as they all began to focus on finding a tree to climb.

Her pace steadily growing faster, she found herself at a dead run. The small sticks, piles of leaves, and cushions of moss beneath her paws felt so right to her that she nearly wolf-laughed with joy in the moment.

Her stomach snapped her out of her thoughts, and she slowed to a stop. Stock still, her entire body could have been mistaken for a skillfully carved sculpture left in the middle of the woods. The only thing any creature could have noticed moving was her fur in the wind.

Her ears were perked to sharp points, picking up the slightest of noises. Her nose abosrbed the scents of the creatures surrounding her in the forest. Her mouth, slightly open, intensified her sense of smell. Her eyes were closed. Blackness existed, though that didn't mean she didn't see anything.

_Above her, in the trees. Two squirrels. One is chattering, the other is gnawing on something. A third squirrel in a lower branch. A fourth and fifth in two different branches off to her right...closer to her tail than her nose. Leaves on the ground shifted.A mouse...no, a few mice. Foraging beneath the leaves two wolflengths from her. A squirrel, cautiously approaching the ground. It was ahead of her._

She was still.

_Another sound. Another smell. A fox. More smells. Deer. Rabbits. Humans. Humans. Humans. Another fox. A bear, far off. A large cat, closer than the bear. The large cat was near to the humans, possibly stalking the fox near there. _

She opened her eyes and stuck her nose to the earth. She scented deer. Anxious with hunger, she started in the direction of the wind, with the delicious scents flooding into her face with each slight of wind.

San's body eased into a tireless jog, her senses tuned to extreme alertness. The cat had moved off, and the scent of rabbit's blood was strong. _Perhaps the cat got the rabbit. Or maybe the fox. Irrelevant. I need to stay focused. This deer is mine. I hope its a doe. I'm too tired for a fight._

A twig snapped under a badly placed foot. If wolves could curse, she would have. A bit of wood lodged itself in her pad. She bit it out and licked the place where a drop of blood oozed. Testing it on the ground, she was relieved to find that she felt no pain from the minor injury. Resuming her jog, she scented the air, being sure to place her feet carefully while doing so.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	3. Food

Her entire body shook.

San crouched behind a bit of brush, the small brambles hitching on her fur. A pair of doe stood in front of her. San's mouth watered in anticipation of their taste.

Their ears pricked up and their heads lifted from the ground. They stopped chewing. Standing as still as stone, they stared off into the space to San's right. She froze, not daring to breathe. Seconds ticked by slowly, feeling like hours. The doe lowered their heads to the ground and began to forage again. San kept her place. She'd have to wait until one reached to investigate the low branches before she could get a clear shot.

Minutes passed. San didn't move a muscle. She blinked slowly and rarely, not daring to make a sudden move of any sort, however subtle. A doe stopped foraging on the ground, turning her head to nuzzle the flank of its companion. Her companion took no notice of her, continuing to forage. She took a few steps away from her companion, reaching her neck up into the trees, exposing her vulnerable throat. It was now or never.

San sprang from her hiding place. Her muscles moved in a fluid sort of grace, sending her flying, jaws agape, towards the beast. The doe's head whipped down half a second too late. Its companion was long gone by the time San's teeth met flesh. She felt her jaws closing, felt her canine teeth slice straight through the skin and into the thick vein in the creature's neck. Thrashing, the two females fell to the forest floor; San skillfully avoiding hooves as the doe kicked desperately and viciously out, trying to free herself. Holding on, she withstood the thrashes, positioning herself so that her torso was above the thing's face and her wary eyes keen on the pain-inducing hooves.

Finally the beast stopped thrashing, and San dug in. Her fur, she noticed, was covered in red by the time she began to eat.

Things began to blur.

When her mind had cleared once again, she was in a clearing. Her belly was full and there was a leftover haunch half buried beneath her paws. San started. _Wha-what happened? Where the bloody hell am I? I-what?_ Stumbling over her own thoughts, she finished burying the meat on pure instinct, then looked up at her surroundings. Cold focused entered her mind again. This place smelled familiar. San gave her pelt a few good licks, not missing the fact that she was white once more, and slowly began walking.

Eventually she came across a stream she recognized. The humans had tied brightly colored things to the trees on either side. How peculiar. In any case, it served as a convenient marker. San crossed the stream, heading in the direction of where she thought her home was.

When she was safe inside her crevice, she finally noticed how bone tired she was. Her entire body was exhausted and San collapsed in a heap.

_The grass felt cool and pleasant as the girl blinked the bleariness out of her eyes. A grey sky met her eyes softly, with streaks of pale blue, red, and yellow running through the thin clouds. The girl sighed in contentment. The edges of trees were barely visible in the corner of her eye, she hardly noticed them. _

_The cool dewy grass sent shivers down her body. No longer pleasant, but the girl did not mind. She was far too relaxed to let a thing like that bother her. She opened her eyes, not yet aware that she had closed them. The sky was even lighter. Had she dozed? Ah, well. No matter. She began to vaguely wonder at her location. She was not too concerned, for her dozing had left her apparently unharmed. She was so...relaxed...and...sleepy..._

_She drifted off._

_She jolted awake, sitting bolt upright. Memories flooded into her, freezing her core. Her body became panic-stricken. Eyes wide, she searched for her companion, scared for his life. Her eyes darted around, taking in her surroundings. An empty clearing, burnt out fires, and green grass greeted her. Dismay flooded through her bloodstream and tears gathered in her eyes. _No, _she thought, _this can't be...

_Again, she drifted into a dreamless slumber._

_When she awoke, she lay on a cold table. The room around her only made one impression before she blacked out once more. That room reminded her of something familiar, yet not._

San jolted awake from a dreamless sleep. It seemed only seconds ago that she'd fallen asleep, yet there was something nagging at her from the back of her mind...something she wanted – needed – to remember. She shook her head and then her pelt as if to rid herself of the nagging feeling.

Leaping to her feet, San began to trek around the border of her territory. She never kept it clearly marked, as she'd never met another wolf in these woods. San really didn't figure that it mattered all that much. Wolves and other animals were the only things that heeded the boundaries. If the creature was stronger than her, such as the large cat and the bears, she didn't want them knowing where she lived. If the creature was food, she didn't want them knowing where she hunted. They'd figure it out on their own soon enough, but there was no need to encourage them.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	4. Stones

Pouncing on a stray squirrel in her path, she snatched it in her teeth and quickly devoured it. Satisfied for the moment, she continued walking along her path, enjoying the dappled sunlight of the forest. San observed everything around her: the way the light hit the forest floor, the way the animals communicated, the way the tiniest of plants always bent toward the nourishing light. She appreciated everything, even though the only thing she understood was the main rule of life – that you would either consume or be consumed.

San didn't even fathom how to apply it to the plants at the moment, nor how to apply it to the herbivores like the squirrels and rabbits around her. All she knew was that to survive, she had to eat things. And so she did. But San never wasted life. A waste of life was a waste of energy, which was to be frowned upon.

San stumbled. She cursed herself and her careless footfalls once more. She was becoming distracted by foolish questions that she'd never worried about before. Composing herself, she looked to see what exactly she had tripped over.

A stone lay upon the ground. Or at least, she thought it was a stone. It seemed different somehow. The thing was white and shaped like a sort of egg. The sides were incredibly misshapen for it to be an egg-shape however. The only resemblance it held was the fact that it was wider at one end than the other, and the entire thing was without edges. Sure, there were some nicks and dents in it, but there were no edges defining any sort of faces of the stone. A feeling of...something...emanated from it.

Puzzled, San nudged it with her muzzle. Nothing happened. The same feeling continued, unaffected. San took two steps back. The feeling wakened a little. Two more steps, and it was gone. She cocked her head involuntarily to the side before, self-conscious, she realized she looked like an ignorant pup.

The stone, no bigger than a human's fist, fit easily within her jaws. At some point in time, she realized, San had decided to take it home. It seemed significant. It wasn't a big deal, and it didn't interrupt her day, so she decided to go with her gut instinct.

Over the next few days, and after much searching, San turned up three other stones just like the one she'd found. They were all roughly the same size, though they had incredibly different proportions. San always puzzled over them when she returned to her crevice before she became tired and drifted off.

After several months, nothing remarkable had happened regarding the stones or otherwise. San hunted when she was hungry, and she often was in the middle of winter. This year the cold was harsh, and the winds had a knack for piercing straight through her thick pelt and chilling her to the bone.

Her days became filled with the search of meat, and she sometimes had to travel quite far for a meager meal. The squirrels were hiding in their nests, and the other small game was nowhere to be found. A few snowshoe rabbits were scared out of hiding and sent flying across the blanket of white only to be chased by a nearly invisible creature.

San could hardly be seen when observed against a snow bank. Her fur was as white as, or whiter, than the snow itself.

When the spring came after the thaw, and San's coat thinned, the prey returned in abundance. Once more she found her territory crawling with food. Once more she grew fat and happy, and lazed in the sun. San had discovered a marvelous place not too far from her crevice. In the early dawn, when the sun was but a thought in the sky, she'd climb up to a rock outcrop above her den and gaze upon the sunrise. On particularly chilly days, she'd stretch out up there and sun herself. It was lovely, that place in the sun. She took naps there often, and frequently spent hot summer nights up there in the cool air.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	5. Trees

A year passed. That's when things began to happen.

It was just after the thaw. Humans had began to enter her forest. San heard them and their machines roaring. She'd smelled the disgusting scent of the black clouds billowing from them, tasted the belch of smog. The streams crisscrossing her home had become tainted, reminiscent of the human's metal beasts.

The humans had begun to cut the forest.

Trees began to fall. No matter what was in their path, the tree-cutting metal creatures cleared swaths of land. San didn't know it, but they were to build homes there. The city nearby was expanding, and the forest was to be cleared in lieu of urban sprawl.

As they cut, the machines seemed to scream in rage. They groaned, roared, belched, and growled. Their screams were nothing, however, compared to San's rage. Every time the humans cut a tree, her anger festered.

Though the cutting was a long way away from her home, she knew when each and every tree fell. The loud crash, the ripping of the limbs from the trunk, the stomach-wrenching and heart-wrenching noises as each tree died. San grew full of hatred both for the humans and herself.

She didn't know what to do. This was her _home_, and just like last time she was powerless to help it.

The good humans came less and less to her forest. The ones that loved the trees and the wildlife. The ones that loved the air and the chill at night. A few moons after the creatures started cutting, the humans stopped coming altogether. The air was beginning to heat. At this time of year, humans were always here. But not this year.

This year was different.

After a successful hunt one day, San decided to investigate the machines. Stomach full and head clear, she headed in the direction of the killed forest. It was not long before she reached it. Something spectacular greeted her eyes.

Humans were gathered around a tree loosely. A machine was chewing at its base in an odd sort of manner. The entire tree shook. The metal creature's teeth came through the other side and a loud noise sounded, followed by an odd appendage coming out of the machine and pushing the tree away from it. The tree began to fall.

Stones came from the tree as it fell. _Stones._ Stones weren't supposed to fall from trees. That elicited madness. But here they were, falling like incredibly dense leaves. And they weren't just any stones, either. They were _her_ stones.

After the initial burst of confusion, San regained her senses. She needed the stones. She didn't know why. She just _did._ San didn't bother to question it. She leaped from the bush she was crouched behind and grabbed one in her jaws. A human yelled in shock. San didn't bother with that as she sprinted back toward her home.

After some distance was put between her and the beasts, she dug a shallow dip in the ground, placing the stone inside it. The dip, nestled against a tree, was only a temporary home. San looked around, selecting a sapling and ripping branches from it with her teeth. She arranged the saplings over the dip in the ground, marking the place with her scent afterward. She then stretched up high and scratched deep gouges in the wood with her claws. This way, San would remember the place without a doubt.

San began running back to the place where the tree had fallen. Making this trip ten times, as there were ten more stones, would be tiring and time wasting. But she could only carry one in her mouth as she ran. _Perhaps...carrying them in something else?_ But what, though? Crouching behind her bush, she looked around at the humans. There were things littering the ground: hard clear things, thin white membranes, rags and cloths, what looked like a human body covering. _Clothes_, she corrected herself. Her mother had called them clothes.

_Perhaps she could place the stones on the cloth-thing and carry it in her teeth so they wouldn't fall out..._She made her decision, leaping for the clothes.

The shirt in her teeth was disgusting. San nearly gagged when she got a mouthful of it. Crouching behind the bush, she flattened it out. She'd lay the stones on it and then grab the edges in her teeth, forming a pouch similar to the pouches in the stomachs of the food she ate. One by one, San gathered the stones. The humans had gone for the most part, and San was careful to avoid the ones that remained. Placing the last of the precious rocks on the cloth-thing, San began to try and lift it.

She failed.

Miserably.

Replacing all of the stones, San puzzled for a moment before painstakingly arranging the edges and corners of the cloth into one pile in the center. Arranging her jaws just so, she bit and lifted it. As long as she moved slowly, San realized that she could walk in such a manner. She started toward the dip in the ground from before, following her nose.

After she'd collected the last stone, she headed back to her home. The moon shone brightly overhead, lighting her path with a nearly-full shape. Along the way, stones fell out of her pouch constantly. San was irritated to the point of leaving them where they lay, but she cared for them deeply for some unfathomable reason.

Placing the stones in her crevice, San rolled the others onto the cloth with the ones she'd just found. It looked like a sort of nest she realized, laughing. She laid down, still laughing at the notion that she was a bird of some sort, and fell asleep after a moment.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	6. Into the Wild

San dreamed.

_A young girl was walking, footsteps casual on the paved sidewalk. Her face was tired, the sun was beginning to set. Cars flew past. Suddenly another car appeared. The girl disappeared inside with a shriek of surprise and fear. Everything blurred._

_When things cleared, a girl crouched in a tree. A white wolf's pelt was draped across her shoulders and over her head. She wore a dark dress and a white smock, both tattered and dirty. A mask covered her face. The mask was red. She carried a spear as long as she was tall, and her other hand was placed against the tree for balance. Her moccasin covered feet seemed to conform to the contour of the thick branch she squatted on. She was completely still. Time passed. _

_An arrow embedded itself in her shoulder and she fell backwards out of the tree. Moments before she hit the ground _San woke with a start.

Her heart seemed to lurch a bit as she got to her feet. Chest pounding, she felt as if she'd just run a marathon. What an odd run. Glancing down at the floor of her crevice, the previous day's events returned to her in a rush at the sight of her stones. A peculiar feeling came over her, making her want to..._do_ something. She didn't know what it was, but the compulsion was so strong that San shivered involuntarily.

Ignoring the fire in her blood, San stalked out of her den yawning. The sun greeted her just like every other day and she closed her eyes in brief pleasure at the heat. She trotted to the nearby stream, lapping up great mouthfuls of water and savoring the way it ran down her throat. Stretching her jaws and hearing the pops of her muscles, San returned to her cave. Her stomach was full so she decided to ponder the stones for a while.

The crevice was chilly. Craving the late spring sun, San grabbed a stone in her teeth and climbed up to her sunning spot. She stretched out, placing the stone between her paws and thinking about it.

_What could they be? If they hadn't fallen from that tree yesterday I'd have thought they were just stones and this was all in my head. But they're not just stones. They can't be. Are they eggs? No, they can't be. They'd have broken by now, with all the times I've bitten and dropped them! Ugh! What could they be?_

These thoughts continued until the sun reached its crest in the sky, and San's belly rumbled quietly. What the hell? She was already hungry? San sighed and got to her feet. She wholeheartedly wished that yesterdays meager catch would have lasted longer than it did.

Deciding the stone was safe enough, she bounded down the rock and headed towards her cache of meat from her last hunt. It took her just over a minute to reach the spot beneath the large tree. San dug up the two squirrels she'd buried and engulfed them. That would satiate her stomach for a bit. She sighed and looked up. It was nearly a full moon. One, maybe two days more and then she'd be able to see as well at night as she could during the day.

Resigned, San trotted back to her home.

_The girl leaped atop the back of her brother wolf, and he took off-_

San stumbled and fell flat on her face as she tripped over a maliciously placed tree root. Snarling, she got to her feet and looked around.

-_at a dead sprint, headed for that disgusting-_

San blinked, eyes wide and unable to move.

-_Iron Town. It was time-_

Her hackles raised.

-_to kill that-_

A snarl escaped her throat, lips curling back halfheartedly.

-_disgusting woman,-_

She staggered,

_-Lady-_

and fell to the ground in a heap.

-_Eboshi.-_

Blackness enveloped her entire being.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	7. Focus

Lift. Place. Shift weight.

Lift. Place. Shift weight.

Lift. Place. Shift weight.

Lift. Place. Shift weight.

Lift.

Place.

Shift weight.

Lift.

Stop.

_ What? What am I doing? I am...walking. Yes. I am walking. Where am I? I...I don't know. Why am I here? I don't know that either. Why can't I move? Don't be silly, self. You can move. I mean I can move. So why am I not moving?...I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. What's happening to me? Okay...okay...I can fix this. Okay. Okay. I think...I think I can do this. I think...if I just try to move my foot I'll be okay. This is hard...why isn't it moving? What's happening? Oh thank the forest its moving now. _

Sigh. Relief. Refocus.

_ Okay. Time to look around. Come on eyes, head. We've got to work together. There...there we go. Okay. Where are we? I don't recognize this place. Wait! That tree, there! With the ties on it! I know that tree! _

Pivot. Sprint.

_ Why am I running? _

Feet pounding the dirt.

Wind in fur.

Crouch. Leap to ledge.

Slip inside.

Lay atop stones.

Sleep.

_ Her wolf-brother ran hard, harder than he thought he'd ever run. She sat upon his back. Though fully grown, she only barely was a quarter his size. Her siblings were giants, gods of this forest. She was the daughter of the two-tailed wolf-god, and her pelt was white as snow. Her mother had given her the pelt to keep her warm, as she wasn't as fortunate as her brothers and was born thin-coated. She wore a mask over her face, showing her respect for the forest and her disdain of the humans. _

_ That disgusting place loomed before them and the ground seemed to move even faster beneath them if that was possible. Shifting into a crouch, she placed her feet on her brother's back. She could feel all the muscles of his body working as one beneath his perfectly white pelt. His shoulders and back rippling with the effort of maintaining – no, increasing – his speed, the girl found balance where none existed. _

_ Large tree trunks whittled into enormous spikes lined the walls, creating a defense akin to the pelt of a porcupine. The spikes were no matter. The walls were no matter. The people were no matter. Well. All but one. She only had to kill one. But if any others got in her way, they'd be meeting the god of death sooner rather than later. _

_ They approached the spikes at a rapid pace. The girl shifted her stance, preparing for flight. Spear in hand, her ribs ached with excitement laced with only a tint of anxiety. She __**had**__ to kill that disgusting woman. It didn't matter if she died or not. She'd gladly die if it meant saving her forest, her family! The only thing she worried was if she somehow failed. She didn't know why she would, but the feeling was nagging. _

_ They reached the spikes, and her brother leaped at them, broadsiding them. The momentum behind the maneuver launched the girl. At once she was flying, soaring at the wall. Spear raised above her head, she spared a brief glance down and was met with a rush of giddy fear. Recently sharpened, the spear sunk three inches into the wall. The girl hoisted herself up to place her feet as near to the wall as she could manage, whipping her knife out and using it combined with her entire body to clamber up the sheer wall and into the city. _

San woke.

Her muscles hurt. She briefly wondered why she had lay down atop the stones, but put it out of her mind. Her stomach roared in protest of its emptiness. San trotted out of her crevice, heading for her hunting spot.

This was her place. This is where she began her hunt each and every time. As she reached the spot, San began to do something akin to what humans would call _meditating_. She calmed her entire body, attuning her hunting senses. Her eyes closed, ears pricked, jaw slackened, tongue lolled, and she inhaled.

_ The forest was alight with life. Above her in the trees – three silent squirrels and several birds. They are infantile, of no consequence. She needed something bigger. She cast out her hearing, listening hard. Several hundred wolf-lengths away. There. To her right...in the direction of her shoulder. Six deer. Six doe...no...five doe. One buck. She could hear his antlers scraping against the trees, the velvet coming off. The small herd was slightly spread out. Probably foraging, San hedged. _

Her eyes snapped open and she began to adjust her position, moving in a wide semicircle in order to approach them downwind. Each paw was placed carefully and her teeth ached with readiness. San's hackles threatened to raise in excitement, but she forced her fur to lie flat. This was no time to make herself look menacing. She was a part of the forest, only a tiny piece of the system of life that worked here. Standing out was the worst thing that could happen right now, and flattening her hackles was necessary.

San continued in the semicircle, eventually gaining the scent of the deer. Mouthwatering, that scent. An odd scent was mixed in. It was of deer...but...different somehow. Perhaps it was a different species. She'd run into that before. It was never a problem, so San continued on her path. She was as a shadow – silent and virtually unnoticed.

Finally the scent grew incredibly strong. San was directly downwind of them, and not ten wolf-lengths away. She crept up incredibly slowly, taking her time and being careful of startling her next potential meal. A large bush was placed conveniently near them. San hesitated for a moment before opting for the thick tree to the left of it. The bush gave her an uneasy feeling in her teeth, but she didn't worry on it. San was far too focused on her next meal for that.

As she peeked around the tree, she was greeted with a peculiar sight.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	8. Just Another Meal

Of the five doe in front of her, three were as she expected them to be-grazing mindlessly. Their bellies were not swollen with the promise of a calf, unlike the other two. The buck kept his wits about him, as San expected. The dark eyes of the beast were trained on something in the distance, seeing but not. Instead of using his eyes, he was making good use of his ears to protect his mates. His antlers had shreds of velvet hanging off of them. After a few seconds of listening, he rubbed them on a tree and quickly returned to listening.

_Conflicted. Doesn't know if his itchiness or the tingling of danger is more urgent._

Grinning a wolfish smile, San rearranged her legs beneath her. There was no way that San would attack the buck purposefully – not today, at least – so that left the five doe. San studied them critically. She had respect for her meals. She knew that they had to live well and reproduce in order to feed her. Avoiding pregnant does was a consequence. So that left three. Three healthy does.

Except not really. Each creature was different.

_The first doe had faded white spots on her flank. Young, then. Fast, more than likely. Perhaps the offspring of another doe present. The creature had a place on her flank where no hair grew – a scar, perhaps. A fight, then. Well. Most likely. This one was a fighter. Or at least she could hold her own._

_The second doe was in the middle of rearing on her hind legs when San noticed the white streak on her underbelly. She'd grabbed a branch, offering it to one of the pregnant doe. A caring creature, then. This one was larger than the first doe, undoubtedly older. How old, though? She seemed sturdy. But if she was of a good age, why was she not pregnant like the other two? Older, perhaps. Maybe damaged. In any case unable to be pregnant. Unlikely that she was unwilling, that sort of thing didn't happen._

_The third doe was as young as the first, though without the scar. And...wait. Was that...this deer was no doe. Two bumps on its forehead revealed tiny tiny antlers. A yearling. Growing its first pair._

__Two bucks then. Undoubtedly the two yearlings were his progeny otherwise they'd have been gored or chased off by now. That narrowed the selection down impressively. She'd take the older doe, sparing the young and the pregnant.

The buck snorted, tossing his head restlessly. Obviously anxious to get moving, San would need to speed this up. There was no time to wait for the opportune moment to leap, she had to move now.

Her muscles bunched beneath her, then worked in harmony to send her leaping over the bush with jaws agape. No noise was made in the first second.

In the next second, a loud bleat erupted from the male yearling. His eyes had been the only ones in the direction of San. The other deer began to bolt in one direction, moving as a general and loose group.

The third second. San's fur rippled as she began to descend from her leap. She'd miscalculated. Cursing, San realized that she was coming down atop the buck who was now in the spot previously occupied by her prey. His antlers were whipped up, eyes wild and staring at San.

The fourth second. Red. Red everywhere. Fur and hair were drenched in a sticky mess of blood. San managed to get her body to obey and turn slightly in midair, avoiding the worst of the prongs. The buck's brow tines, however, caught her in the ribs. San's flesh tore, causing pain to shoot through her. Sharp teeth snapped near the buck's face and San fell to the ground, rolled on her side by the momentum of the collision.

Immediately she was on her feet again. Glaring, San feinted right and dove for the opposite hind leg of the buck, grasping it in her jaws and clamping down as she was tossed about. A hoof met her flank, and she released the buck, leaping on his back and biting his neck where it met his shoulders. Bucking, her prey threw her off. San leaped for his throat the moment she touched her paws to the ground, slashing it open with the blades of her teeth. The buck gurgled and growled once, snorting thickly before collapsing in a heap. He was dead in minutes.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.

**I've been trying to keep the chapters between 700-1200 words. In your opinion, is this good? Should I change it, should the chapters be longer?**


	9. Pain and Dreams, Nothing But Reality

_Shit. Shit. Shit. What should I do? Shit. Shit. Shit. This is NOT good. Shit. This hurts. This hurts a lot._

_Meat or pain, meat or pain, _she contemplated. San thrashed her head once in frustration as he hunger won out over her pain.

Dragging the entire carcass back to a safer feeding place was not an option, but neither was eating here in the open. San didn't know how bad her wound was and didn't exactly _want_ to, either. Something she definitely didn't want to do was try and fight a battle she was sure to lose. San was in a bad place and she knew it. _Decision. Decision. Damnit, decide. What the hell can I do? Fuck it all, I'll eat as much as I can and split if I have to._

San began to delve into her meal, savoring the better bits of the meat and heading straight for the best parts while she still could. It seemed like moments before she'd whittled down her meal to the less desirable parts. Stomach full and chest still dripping, San lifted her head and perked her ears. It was time to leave.

San stalked off at a brisk pace, keeping low to the ground and moving slowly. Any other predators were sure to scent her, and she couldn't smell anything with her nose covered in the blood of her feast. _Shit shit shit shit shit I am SO screwed_.

A shudder ran from the base of her skull down to her toes, causing all of her muscles to spasmodically contract. _Something there, to the left. Something bad._ Compensating, San leaped to her right and took off running as fast as she could with her ribs in their state. Eyes wide, breathing becoming more and more labored by the second, San ran for her life.

_Heat. Heat. Hot. So hot. Run. Run. Pain. Burning me. Stop. Stop. Please stop._

Her eyes stopped working and for a moment the only thing she saw was flames surrounding her. She was in _her_ forest again. Her family was behind her, running with her. She stole a glance back but saw only yellow-orange and white tendrils lapping at the trees and her paws.

_Mother! Mother! Moro! Where are you?! Mother don't leave me like this! Brother! Where are you?! Help me!_

San was running for her life, but from what she didn't know. A bear, a cat, a fire, at this point it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the escape. She had to run. She had to run so much faster.

And her paws responded. Her muscles stretched taut beneath her pelt. Working in perfect synchronization, the muscles of San's legs were as one in their movements. Contracting smoothly and painlessly San began to run faster than she'd run before. Adrenaline, anger, and fear coursed through her bloodstream, supplying her body with exactly what it needed for that extra boost.

Trees shot past her, green blending with brown into one solid blur of color that meshed between the two hues. The limits of reality seemed to melt as San ran ever faster, ever harder, ever farther. The only scent in her nose was the scent of blood, though she knew not where it came from. The only sound was of her paws hitting the ground, the only feeling was the ground under her paw pads.

San shot forward, leaving her mind behind her in the proverbial dust of her pounding paws. Her tail was slack and low to the ground, streamlined behind her. San's entire body became a white projectile moving through the trees, weaving between each one. The only things that mattered were the obstacles in front of her, the ground beneath her, and the nothingness behind her. She was no longer San. She was simply a wolf running.

At that moment reality came crashing in, not dissimilar to the way a boulder crushes a small creature during a rock slide. All at once thoughts crashed into San's skull. She was San once more, the brief moment of ignorant bliss was gone, and the ground suddenly had a crazy urge to meet her nose.

Pain shot through her face, and in a messy bloody heap San flipped over, rolling several times before smacking a tree. Her head smashed against something hard and her senses left her with nothing except a mind-splitting bright light.

_A white wolf existed in the middle of a clearing. The clearing was in the center of a large and overgrown forest. Green grass swayed in the slight wind, dappled sunlight turning the hue to more of a yellow-green array of tints, shades, and intensities. The wolf sat in the center of a lose ring of large stones. Each stone had a tree exactly one wolflength behind it. Each tree was at different stages of growth, but all were incredibly green and incredibly vibrant with health. _

_Suddenly (though for some reason it seemed expected), the wolf's head lifted from its chest, its eyes snapped open, and its tails curled round its flank. The wolf's gaze fixed on the stone directly in front of it, eyes unwavering and unblinking. What seemed like several minutes passed before anything happened. A faint clacking sound came from the boulder...no, from just above it. A small humanoid creature materialized upon the stone, sitting with its knees pulled up to its chest. Following the first one several others appeared in various quantities arrayed upon the boulders. The larger trees tended to have more creatures sitting on their stones, and the smallest tree had only one. When their heads shook a musical sort of clacking emanated from them. The noise was pleasant, soothing even. _

_Fire burned the forest to dust and the wolf ran away with a stone in its mouth. _

Her entire body thrashed and San threw herself upon her feet. Or at least she tried. Instead of landing on her paws, her back met the ground. Thrashing again, she rolled to her feet and snarled at nothing. A half second later she realized she looked like a fool. A full second later she collapsed to the ground in pain. Rolling onto her side, San looked at her belly and her chest. There was a large gash on her left side and a smaller cut on the opposite side. Yellow showed among the larger gash. _Fat_. _Shit. This is bad._

Tongue rasping over her wounds, San cleaned them as best she could. She knew it wouldn't be enough, that it would take more than a few good licks to keep herself alive. That _damned_ buck. Why did it have to have _damned _antlers and care about his _damned_ mates. Some of his mates didn't even smell right! Why the hell had she gone for them anyway?! She knew the freaking thing was there. She knew the buck would hurt her if it could. She was so stupid. _Stupid stupid STUPID! How could she be so STUPID?! _

San cursed herself from the moon to the sun and back before laboriously getting to her feet. She had to get home before another creature hunted her. Shit. Why was she still alive, anyways? She'd been out for who knows _how_ long and nothing had touched her?! It was freaking her out. Nonetheless, it was time to go home.

Searching the surrounding woods for markers or familiarities, San began the long trek home. _Jeez, how far did I run?_ It took her the better part of the day to finally get home, and when she finally reached her crevice night had begun to fall. The dim light of dusk illuminated the woods surrounding her home as she climbed the rocks to her den. It was as she'd left it when she headed out for a quick meal. It seemed so surreal to her for some reason. San paced twice across the small area of her den, shaken.

Sprawling across the stones, San lay her head to the ground and let out a huge sigh. Her belly was full and her chest in pain. Her fur was caked with blood and her entire body ached. Seemingly in defeat, San let sleep take hold of her.

_Nothingness._

Bright sunlight slammed against her eyes and San tucked her snout beneath her leg, shielding her eyes. A groan escaped her throat and she got to her feet. Blinking heavily, San's jaws stretched into a huge gaping yawn and she gingerly began to walk out of her cave. Climbing the steps to her sunning place, San flinched each time her ribs stretched wrong, pulling the skin apart and worsening the wound.

_Perhaps this isn't such a good idea, _she thought to herself.

_Nonsense! The sun is going to feel excellent on your fur if you sleep up here. Get a good washing later when the air has heated a bit from the sun, _her mind warred. San continued up the climb and flopped down in her favorite spot. She stretched out her body as much as she dared, still curling around the gashes in her chest.

By the time the sun was at the peak of its path, the previously clean slab of stone had been stained red by San's blood. She'd moved a bit in her sleep, rubbing the dried blood onto the rock. A sigh escaped her lungs and she slowly made her way down to the stream, eyes flinching at the bright light of day. Her head felt as if it were being split open and her ears were ringing as she made her way towards the water.

San let out a sigh of deep contentment as the water ran through her fur. Mud, blood, and forest debris was washed clean by the clear water and its swift current. She collapsed onto her side in the shallow part of the river, allowing her wounds to be lightly washed by the current running over her torso. After a few long minutes, she stood and began gulping down huge mouthfuls of water, savoring them while she could. San knew she'd be spending several suns up in her home with just a few trips down to the stream and absolutely no meals. She sighed and began to walk back home, not noticing the smooth white stones laying upstream in the river.

As San lay washing herself, she allowed her mind to wander to fruitless thoughts. Her tongue mindlessly rasped over her fur, licking the water from it. She knew that shaking the water from her body was quite possibly one of the worst ideas a wolf could have in this situation. Besides that, it was nice to lay here in the sun and clean her fur.

The sun had began to set when San decided it was time to retire. The trip to the stream hadn't taxed her, not really. But for some reason she was tired. As San found her way to the slope she would descend, something nagged at the back of her mind. _Wait a second...where's my stone? I could have sworn I left it up her-_ an enormous yawn interrupted her thoughts and she staggered under the weight of it. Making her descent, San put the thought out of her mind and instead focused on maneuvering carefully down the rocks.

Safely situated in her cave, she allowed sleep to take her once more. She greeted the darkness with gratitude.

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**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	10. Prison

**TW: This chapter contains gore and references to rape and sexual assault. Read at your own discretion.**

_The shredded remains of her meal lay in the corner of her prison. Once white fur now stained with red. Small-clawed paws and a short soft pelt. An ear as long as her snout. The head of the rabbit. A mixture of revulsion and want filled her. She collapsed, tired._

_The iron bars of her enclosure were smooth. The bottom and top of the cage were flat iron as well, matching the gunmetal sheen of the bars. The cage's only opening was through the top and was locked tight with the help of four chains and four locks. To feed her, her captors shoved animals inside every few days. Her ribs were seen through her pelt. _

_She'd been there for forty three weeks and two days. Every day, she chewed and clawed at the bars in specific spots. There were now forty three rows of seven nicks, and one row of two nicks. Each row had a slash through them, similar to tallies. _

_After forty three weeks and two days, she knew much about who was holding her prisoner. She knew there were three men at least. Two were young in terms of human ages. One had a beard. The other sucked on smoldering sticks. They both laughed at her when she was caged. Every so often, after they fed her, she'd become tired. Her vision would blur. And the last thing she remembered each time was one of the men, unlocking her cage and reaching in to grab her by her scruff, tearing at her fur. She hated the feeling. Something about it seemed wrong, so so wrong. Whenever she woke afterward, she licked herself clean, struggling to get the feel of dirt off of her fur. _

_The third man she liked. He was younger than the other two, but older. She didn't know how, or why. She only knew that it was. Whenever she saw him the other two were gone. He would open her cage, let her climb out. He would pick something out of the bag that was his constant companion and instruct her to sit in front of him. He ran the thing through her fur, murmuring soft sweet nothings to her. He told her that it was called a brush, and that people used them to make their hair soft. Hair is like fur, he said. But humans only have it on their heads, he said. She liked this man, liked his voice. He had visited her thirty two times. Each time was as lovely as the last._

_He told her things. Things about the outside. He told her of the dark, hard paths that ran through the place where the people lived. They had things called cars that they drove. He told her stories of the children that played near his home. He told her of the ocean, the salty plane of water that complemented the sky. He told her of his son as he grew. Told her of his first steps, his first words. Told her of the first time he played a game called baseball. She didn't know what that was, but it sounded fun._

_Other times, other days, that nice man didn't come. Some days, nobody came at all. She sat in her cage simply staring at the nothingness surrounding her._

_Some days, she wished she were dead. _

_And then, on the fourth day of the forty seventh week, something happened. A noise. She heard a noise that she'd never heard before. A loud concussive sound. Her ears hurt and she curled herself into a tight ball. Someone opened the door to the room her cage sat in. A large man. His skin was tanned, his jaw angular and covered with stubble. As soon as he walked in, the door slammed shut behind him. His hands were empty. _

_She looked at him and a mixture of excitement and terror ran through her blood. He bared his teeth at her. The bright white contrasting to the darkness of his wraparound sunglasses. _

"_Hello San," she was startled. His voice was rough, husky almost. She sat up. "I understand that is your name. How are you feeling today?" another pleasant smile graced his lips. San didn't know what to do. It wasn't like she could speak. Wolves don't speak human. Wolves don't understand human. Why was he asking her something?_

"_I asked you a question, sweetheart." her blood chilled at the ice in his voice. She pricked her ears up, sat up straighter. A growl escaped her throat as she yawned. She'd decided that she didn't like this man._

"_Can you do me a favor? I think you can. See, I need to you take care of something for me. Just a little problem, nothing big. And after...well, you'll see. If you do a good job, then I'll give you something great. Just remember, do a good job. Alright San? Alright. Goodbye wolf." _

_She stared at him as he walked away. She didn't like his eyes._

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**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.

**Sorry for the short chapter, I feel like I express my ideas better like this. There will be long chapters in the future but I'm still new to this. Bear with me. Reviews are definitely appreciated.**


	11. De Omnibus Dubitandum

There were times in her life when San doubted herself. This was one of those times.

It had been several months since she'd been hurt. San spent those days in her cave, nursing her wounds. The days were filled with tiredness and pain-inducing climbs to her perch atop the rock. The days were also filled with incredible strangeness. Over time her stones had begun to disappear. The disappearing of the stones had begun as a bit of a shock, but after a time she became used to it. It became one of the normal things of the forest. As normal as the sun rising in the morning, setting in the evening, and heating the world of hers in between the two. It was as normal as the deer grazing, clipping the leaves off of their stems with their teeth. It was as normal as the hunter and the hunted, the water flowing in the river, the rain falling towards the earth, the smell of sap where the cutters had felled trees, and the lazy rise of the fog in the morning. San fell into her old routine – wake up, hunt, eat, sleep. Some nights she would dream of the girl or the family. San, however convincing these dreams would be, held steadfast to the policy of the separation of dreams from reality. They're just dreams, right?

But now...now she began to doubt.

It was one of those odd days when San's mind was separated. She didn't know where she placed her paws, didn't think as she stalked her prey. Her mind was empty and devoid of thought. San worked as if on autopilot. Her dreams came to her in small snippets as she padded through the forest.

_"__San. San. Where are you now? San...look at me. I need you to do something for me."_

Things became blurred in her vision. Unawares, she began stalking a rabbit mechanically. Dropping into a crouch, San slunk towards her next meal.

_"__That man. You know the one I'm talking about."_

The white fur twitched. Ears and head shot up as San's tail brushed past the wrong leaf. She fell still at once. Long moments passed. Eventually, the rabbit slowly hopped towards a new spot to forage for food. Nudging the leaves layering the ground with its nose, the bunny became engrossed in its search.

_"__I need you to do something. Remember? I don't think you'll dislike it."_

Beneath her pelt San's muscles contracted. She prepared to leap. The rabbit's head shot up once more. Too late.

_"__I need you to kill that man."_

She pounced.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	12. The Severed Limbs of the Innocent

**TW: **Violence, violent death, general mind games.

* * *

The rabbit had filled her stomach for the moment. A pleasant weight settled in San's belly as she made her rounds through the forest. Familiar scents wafted through her nose. San smelled the prey surrounding her – the squirrels and birds perched in the trees, the mice beneath the leaves, the deer off in the distance – all scents were as clear as day. She wondered at something – the lack of humans in her forest as of late was a bit disconcerting. Where had they gone? Over the past few years their numbers had steadily declined but this year it was different. After the cutters had taken a third of her forest the people had stopped coming entirely. It had been months since the cutters were there.

Before she knew what she was doing her paws were carrying her towards the edge of the forest. Her woods had been cut here, trimmed back in a way. _Why?Her feet pounded faster on the pavement, taking her closer toward her home._ Her paws pounded faster on the loamy forest floor, taking her farther from her home. Brightly coloured shreds of material were tethered to the thick trunks of her trees. _Markers,_ but what for? And how did she know that?

The smell of sap reached her nose before the sight reached San's eyes.

Cut trunks were scattered haphazardly across the field where the forest once grew. There were stumps poking out of the ground like the stubs of severed limbs. The stumps petered out the farther they were from the tree line. A yellow-orange machine sat dead in the center of it all. Rust had eaten away at the space surrounding the chair. There were bird droppings on its teeth and treads, and there was a strange scent lingering about it. San approached cautiously, sniffing warily. _Hang on...I know that scent._

_Blood. Human blood. But...different. Not normal blood. Something else. Sort of like...wolf blood? No...why would there be wolf and human blood here like this? Hang on...that's not rust...and that's a lot of blood. _

It became apparent to San that someone...or multiple someones...had died here. There was just too much blood for anything else. _Who died? Is this why there aren't any humans here any more? But why? I don't understand._

San's hackles raised and she shot off, back into the forest. _Her feet pounded on the floor, running away away away, always away..._

_No! Stop! Why are you doing this?_

_"__I need-"_

_Go away!_

_"__San-"_

_Leave me alone!_

_"__I need you to ki-"_

_I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!_

_"__Kill him."_

_Yes, sir._

_San's teeth flashed, the dull nubs sinking into his throat. A gurgled cry was cut off as red flowed freely from the open wound. A moment later crimson trickled from his lips and began to coat San's cheek. She thrashed her head, tearing at his throat. Her hands came up to shove his shoulders back and her jaws closed ever tighter on his throat. San struggled with herself. _Why am I doing this?_The man went limp and San relinquished her grip. He fell to the floor like the sack of meat that he was. She dropped to her knees, gripping her stomach. San began to vomit profusely, shaking with a cold sweat._

_"__Good job."_

_I will do anything._

_"__I know."_

_Thank you._

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	13. Yakul

**TW: Death, police officer death.**

Before San knew what was happening she was on her belly in a ditch. A spike had taken out a long swath of fur on her side, leaving a mean looking gash. San herself was lodged between three spikes. She heaved a sigh of relief and picked her way to the edge of the covered pit. In her haste, she'd forgotten to watch her step. _Stupid, stupid! Why is this here anyways?_ San looked across the trench she'd fallen into. It was about four wolf-lengths around and in the shape of a boxy circle. Obviously humans had dug it. But why? There's no humans around here anymore. Why trap a wolf? I've done nothing! Dirt sprinkled onto her nose.

"Well lookie 'ere. Looks like we got ourselves a bit of a catch, boys!" San looked up into the face of a deer. Her confusion must have shown because they began to laugh, "Lookit 'er face! Oh don't worry, we'll get you out of this mess. Filthy humans, stinking up the place. Bet they didn't think they'd catch one of your own, did they?"

"One of my own? You mean a wolf? What else would this trap be for – you? No, they've got guns for you. So who else would this trap be for? I haven't seen bears nor cat's around here in more than seven moons."

"Oh dear," the first deer said in a sad sort of way. "Do you even know what we are?"

"A score of ugly-assed deer? Those antlers of yours are something special, you know."

"Oh don't be a fool!" The group of strange deer cackled. "We're elk, you smelly creature!"

"Alright then, elk. Get me out of here, will you? I don't want the humans showing up. They give me the creeps."

"I daresay not as much as you give them the creeps," a grayed elk muttered sagely, shaking his head. The group set to work kicking dirt into the pit, just enough to wear down the sides to a climbable slope. San started to dig out one after another of the stakes, piling them on top of the dirt so as to add more material to the pile. Eventually, once the pile had reached her ears, she leaped upon it and up onto the surface once more. The moon was high in the sky by the time her feet had touched the grass and she was level with the seven elk.

"I suppose we should be afraid of you, given what you are. Filthy human." The elk spoke, giving San a once-over.

"Excuse me?" San bristled.

"What?" The elk was taken aback.

"What did you just call me?"

"Uh, a _human?_ That's what you are, isn't it, ape?"

"What-" pain lashed through her skull and the men were on them at once. Eight loud cracks went off. The elk dropped to the floor, _their blank faces staring indefinitely. They'd come to help her. And now they were dead. They had been good men. A silver badge flashed and fell from the belt of the eldest man lying dead. An officer. Sorrow surrounded San. This may have been her only way out but it shouldn't have ended like this. She had to _run from the men surrounding her, but there was no escape. Grunts and shouts gave away their presence in the light of the half moon. Her paw _rose to brush the hair from her eyes_ and she leapt at the first man she saw. A shock ran through her and _her entire body began to convulse violently. San's vision tunneled and she knew _no more.

* * *

**AN: **Something very important that you should remember while reading this is that I mean every single word that I say.


	14. Wolf

_Running, leaping, flipping through the air. She was a wolf in all her glory, seeking only one thing – the safety of her forest. The iron lady would suffer for this, that disgusting human. Ashitaka, the elk-boy, had stopped her once. But not again. No, this time she would kill her..._

"Miss? Excuse me, miss? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand. Come on now, you can do it. I know you can. You're a tough one. Come on sweetheart..." A pleasant female voice greeted her ears. Debating if she wanted her to know she was awake, San hesitated before sqeezing. A general gasp greeted her ears and she struggled to open her eyes in momentary suprise. She hadn't known there were more people. No matter now, the deed was done. She couldn't handle more than one person right now though. Excited mutterings flitted about the room. A woman was sobbing hysterically somewhere, but the noise was muffled greatly. Scratching noises filled the room as the muttering grew gradually louder. Shushing quickly became the more prominent noise.

"Miss, you're doing great. Hang in there sweetie. Can you squeeze my hand again? Hard as you can, but don't hurt yourself. Yes, just like that...ow...OW okay sweetie that's good, that's really good!" A sort of breathless laugh came from her throat after San squeezed to the point of breakage.

"You're quite strong, do you know?" A smile spread across San's face. "Oh, you can control your facial muscles! Did you see that, boys? That's a huge improvement. Oh miss you're doing great." _Well she's certainly easy to impress. I wonder if I can make her pee herself from excitement. Wonder what would happen if I spoke. _

"My name is San, do you know?" San said with a laugh. Or she tried at least. No sound came out. The only thing that happened was the movement of her jaw, not even her lips reacted. Her brow furrowed and she tried again. Nothing. The room was silent. San struggled to open her eyes. Eventually the left one cracked and white light shone through. Looks of absolute shock were worn by a group of men in white coats that surrounded her. The woman who sat on her bed simply looked excited and happy.

"Now THAT is what I call progress. Sit tight sweetheart. You've been shot several times, and the other traumas to your body were quite badly healed. You're safe now though. Asano can't get you here."

Sleep became as welcome as an old friend.

* * *

**AN: This has become a bit of a mindfuck so if you don't understand that's perfectly okay. It's my first fic and was kind of a warmup for something bigger. I'm still working on my writing style and the way that I phrase things. I know I'm not great, but I'm working on it. Got any tips for improvement? **


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